SNAP also prods George to expand his own list to include three notorious sex offenders

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos at a sidewalk news conference, clergy sex abuse victims from the Chicago area will call upon Cardinal Francis George to push Pope Benedict XVI to
-- stop the overseas transfers of proven, admitted and credibly accused predator priests, and
-- set up a global, on-line registry of child molesting Catholic clerics (like the one George has here in Chicago)

They’ll also prod George to include three new serial pedophiles on his local list. Each of them spent time in the Chicago area.

With two months left George’s tenure, as head of America’s bishops, SNAP believes George has the authority, influence and duty to fight for global church reforms to better protect kids.

WHEN
TODAY, Thursday, April 15, 11:30 a.m.

WHERE
On the sidewalk in front of the headquarters of the Archdiocese of Chicago, 835 N Rush St (north of Chicago Ave)

WHO
Two-three victims of child sexual abuse by clergy who are members of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including the group’s president

WHY
Late yesterday, a shocking new Associated Press investigation found that 30 child molesting Catholic clerics are now working in new countries for the church, often near kids, despite having been convicted or faced credible child sex allegations in a previous country. (Usually, the predators were quietly shipped from more wealthy nations to the Third World, where kids are even more vulnerable.)

To protect children, SNAP members believe that Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George should push the Pope to set up a public, comprehensive, on-line registry of predator priests across the globe. Parents, neighbors and employers could quickly and easily learn who and where the predators are and thus keep children away from them.

SNAP members want George to push the Pope for these reforms when George travels to the Vatican later this month.

SNAP is also asking George to expand the Chicago predator priest list to include three other serial molesters: Fr. Lawrence Murphy (who molested 200 deaf kids in a Wisconsin school which attracted Chicago-area students), Fr. Joseph Lundowski (who grew up in Chicago and returned here after molesting hundreds in Alaska), and Brother Raimond Rose (who is accused of abusing a dozen children and now lives near a Chicago Catholic school).